Believing
Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Deuteronomy 9:7 NASB
Remember – “To us, recollection is a holy act; we sanctify the present by remembering the past. To us Jews, the essence of faith is memory. To believe is to remember.”[1]
Moses commands the people. zekor al-tishkah. Two verbs to impress the urgency of the requirement. zākar, “to think about, meditate upon, pay attention to, remember, recall, declare, proclaim, recite” and not šākaḥ, not “ignore, wither, forget,” in particular, not forget the reciprocal relationship between Israel and its God.
Moses needs both verbs. zākar focuses on the cognitive process. “Most examples of the Qal of zākar refer to inner mental acts, either with or without reference to concomitant external acts.”[2] But zākar isn’t limited to cognition. “Numerous passages add to the above meanings the additional implication of taking appropriate action.”[3] Finally, there is an interesting subset of this combination of consonants. zākar is also a noun meaning male. Perhaps this ambiguity leads us to see that the role of the male is in remembering, both as a cognitive act and as a transformative action.
But Moses adds šākaḥ. “It is in God and man’s reciprocal relationship, that the verb šākaḥ finds its most steady use.”[4]
Forgetting is not simply a psychological act of having a thought pass from one’s consciousness, a temporary or permanent lapse of memory. This is indicated by the frequent identification of the verb with an action. To forget God is to ignore his commandments (Deut 8:11). To forget God is to follow other gods (Deut 8:19); to forget God is to stand in fear of harm and danger, to live fretfully and timidly (Isa 51:13). To forget God is to challenge him (Ps 106:13).[5]
We should note that the negative particle here, ʾal, is the conditional negative, the situation where “no” is a function of time and circumstance, as opposed to the stronger negative of the commandments. What is in play here is a deliberate choice made at the moment when it most matters.
To this we need only add Zornberg’s comment:
“To represent God is to celebrate His salvation—to celebrate being rescued by Him, as well as saving Him. To bear His name, to be His flag, is not simply to be a container of holiness, but to be charged with the future of His Being in the world. It is to live as a recurrent question, acknowledging a lack.”[6]
“To be ‘the seed of Abraham’ is to remain connected, not to be alienated—to acknowledge one’s inmost affiliation. It is a choice.”[7]
Two verbs, both sides of one idea. “To believe is to remember,” and it is not just to remember the goodness of God. It is to remember His reputation and His wrath.
Topical Index: remember, not forget, zekor al-tishkah, Deuteronomy 9:7
[1]https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/8114935-to-us-recollection-is-a-holy-act-we-sanctify-the
[2]Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K. (Eds.). (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 241). Chicago: Moody Press.
[6]Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, Bewilderments: Reflections on the Book of Numbers, p. 26.
But zākar isn’t limited to cognition. “Numerous passages add to the above meanings the additional implication of taking appropriate action.”[3]
In your blog, Backwards Obedience- 4/18/12, you underscore this understanding with these words:
“What is the relationship between hearing and obeying? … The NASB translation (and many other English Bibles) obscure this relationship by transforming the words to fit our view of understanding. It is a mistake – and a big one. God does not give His instructions in order that we might understand Him. He gives His instructions in order that we might live! Understanding is irrelevant. In fact, from the biblical perspective, obedience is a condition of understanding. Unless I obey, I will never have the spiritual discernment required to comprehend the purposes of God.”
Oh how much i may have missed by demanding to ‘know’ before choosing to ‘do.’ Having just observed several Shabbats in my first month of living in Jerusalem, where the word Sabbath basically means: no buses, no shopping, no eating out, silence on the streets and even in the park there is not a phone seen in any hand of persons who are out enjoying the afternoon. May I emphasize this by restating your words—”What is in play here is a deliberate choice made at the moment when it most matters.”
Thank you for that. That was absolutely excellent and very instructive. We are so famous for whitewashing what God calls sin. I loved your last quote by Skip. It’s so easy to know and yet not do! Isn’t that where we really get hung up. Somehow we think if we get understanding it will fix everything but what it actually does is just sets us up “to do”. Maybe that’s why Paul says in first Corinthian‘s 13, that if I have all of this wonderful stuff and all this incredible ability but I don’t have love, WHICH IS A VERB, I don’t have anything! Boy, I sure needed this today. Why is obedience so difficult !
Well hello again, for the last few days, Google would not let me connect to, this Hebrew word study. But today I can, and like always thought-provoking.. Isaiah 1:18, clearly states that reasoning together, with the Lord, he takes us from a filthy state, and brings us to a state of wholeness, we can continue this journey of understanding his kindness, and goodness towards us, by becoming holy or fully reconciled, in this life. Fellowship with him uninterrupted oh, wow is that even possible, in this life. That would be my quest. Any direction, or guidance how this community really works would be helpful. This is just how it seems that the Lord was leading through his word to me. Maybe it was helpful to others. B. B.
Skip, I really enjoyed this TW.
Abba has been teaching and writing this concept of “remembering” on my heart and life. I am so excited about the past! It is a place of hope and healing.
Blessings to you and your family.
The statement by Zornberg that our “saving God” is so fraught with theological fright that it is difficult to see that it is also full of compelling answers and explanations if we are willing to suffer through the metaphysical quandaries and quagmires. That we have likewise been “charged with the future of His Being in the world” explains His poor reputation and our low numbers.
To forget God is a willful choice.
Sin makes it easy to stick one’s head
in the sand and be preoccupied with
one’s self, thereby staying blind to His
overwhelming presence in all He has
created.
But even the most deceived soul seeing things
only from sin’s preordained ground level, is privy
to the constant scuddlebutt about the possibilities
of the “more” and the “much more” of life. And in the
midst of all this, if he or she would just pick their head up
out of the sand and see the obviousness of His created
wonders and divine power, a whole world of possibilities open up.
Rms 1:18-20 is as clear as clear can be. No one has an excuse.
It’s all in His sublime design.